Chapter 2
It was almost sunset, they had been walking all day long with just a quick stop for the midday meal. For all that time Kahlan was lost in thought, analyzing her relationship with Richard. Something was different. The fluttering of her heart when he would look at her and smile wasn't there anymore. The daydreams about their life together, that were a constant on her mind, diminished with time. The need she felt to be close to him, even if just walking alongside each other, wasn't there anymore. Kahlan looked to her left, a step behind her, and there was Cara. Now she often found herself seeking the blonde's quiet company instead of Richard's babbling one. Lately she liked to walk beside the Mord'Sith. It felt natural; felt right.
She's noticing that the love she felt towards Richard, that fairytale feeling, disappeared. Richard is a good man. He is courageous and faithful to his beliefs. He loves her with all he has and is certain that they will be together forever… but Kahlan isn't so sure anymore. That future doesn't seem true anymore. And that scared her. She was supposed to be in love with him, to marry him, make him her mate and have sweet children that will ensure the continuation of the line of Confessors. But her heart wasn't in it like it used to be. She loved Richard… she just wasn't in love with him anymore.
"Are you ok?" She heard a deep and concerned voice from her left.
Kahlan blinked, shaking her head to disperse the worrying thoughts, and gave a weary smile to the blonde. "Yes, I was just thinking about some things," she said.
Cara hesitated. Asking about another's well-being wasn't in her nature. She might ask about it after a fight to see if everyone was in one piece, but she never had any interest whatsoever in the emotional state of those around her. But where it came to Kahlan her nature tended to shift into something new; not entirely different, but maybe a bit more… protective; making her do things that she would never think about doing if it was anyone else. So, it was with hesitation in her voice that she asked "Something I can help with?" She didn't look at Kahlan.
"Right now I don't think there's anything you can do," she told Cara, with a pensive expression that let the blonde imagine the thoughts still spinning in the Mother Confessor's mind. "Thanks for offering though, it means a lot to me that you're concerned about me." She touched the Mord'Sith's forearm in a grateful gesture and the smile that appeared on her lips lit her entire face.
Cara felt exposed, noticing that her behavior with the Confessor was becoming more…caring? She was confused about what it could mean, so to avoid the awkwardness she felt, she did what she always did; what was in her nature. She shrugged off Kahlan's hand, saying "I just asked because you were unnerving me with your brooding." Exactly like she did after they got out of the tomb, Cara used her acerbic remarks to hide her insecurities about her feelings.
She felt something else when she saw Khalan's slightly hurt look at her response…regret. Spirits, here I go again. She sighed and said, "But if you need anything…" she trailed off, hoping Kahlan understood what she meant - that she would always be there, ready to do anything for Kahlan.
The Mother Confessor's hurt look disappeared instantly and a wide grin painted her beautiful features. "I know where to find you," she said softly.
They stopped for the night and started to make camp. The place of choice was a fairly large space between the trees, at a reasonable distance from the road they were following. Richard busied himself making a fire, looking dejectedly at his grandfather after the wizard refused to light the stock of wood with his wizard's fire.
"You don't need magic to do a mundane task like that my boy, you're perfectly capable of starting a fire on your own," Zedd said, looking like he was lecturing his grandson.
"And since I heard your use of magic fire to catch rabbits is disastrous," Cara said referring to the wizard, "I'm off to hunt our dinner." She turned and walked in the direction of the woods.
"Wait, I'll go with you," Kahlan said hurriedly and got up from her seat at a nearby rock, halting Cara's steps.
"Yes, good idea, because rabbits are attracted to noise," Cara sarcastically replied, turning around to pointedly stare at Kahlan.
Zedd chuckled at that remark and Richard laughed while looking between the Mord'Sith and the Mother Confessor.
"I know how to walk through the woods and be perfectly quiet," Kahlan said, with a serious look that showed her indignation at the Mord'Sith's words. "Maybe you should learn a thing or two from me," she finished with a smirk of victory.
"I don't think so," was Cara's nonchalant reply, accompanied by a quick shake of her head.
"I'll show you then," the Mother Confessor said and walked past Cara into the woods. "What are you waiting for?" she asked over her shoulder.
"For you to trip on a root and hit your head on a rock, thus allowing me to hunt in peace," Cara shot at the Mother Confessor with a tiny squint of her eyes and a wicked smirk.
"Oh, how nice of you," Kahlan replied without missing a second, wearing an unimpressed expression. "But that's not going to happen, so let's go."
Cara just rolled her eyes and followed the Confessor into the woods, hearing Richard's chuckle and Zedd's snort behind her.
Cara found a rabbit's trail and followed it until she was kneeling with an arrow, ready to strike the unsuspecting white animal. Just as she was about to release the rabbit's death sentence, she heard Kahlan whisper in her ear.
"Do you have to kill it?"
"Do you have to eat?" Cara inquired dryly without letting the bow waver from its target.
Kahlan exhaled slowly in a resigned way, "It just looks so ador-" she was cut off by the flying arrow striking the rabbit.
"It's not its looks I'm interested in." The Mord'Sith got up and went to skin the dead animal.
"Of course you're not, what was I thinking," Kahlan stated, laughing to herself and watching the blonde work on the rabbit. Kahlan noticed Cara positioning herself in a way that shielded the gory vision from her. She's doing that on purpose, the Mother Confessor noticed with a contemplative smile.
Kahlan let her thoughts wander once again. The Mord'Sith was doing almost unnoticeable things like that all the time. She wasn't sure if Cara even noticed she was doing it, but Kahlan was noticing it more and more. Like the berries on her bedroll… simple things that she wouldn't pay much attention to if they weren't coming from a woman that didn't make any effort to please anyone.
Kahlan was so distracted with her musings that she didn't detect the two brilliant eyes looking menacingly at her. She was still crouched at the spot where Cara had shot the rabbit, and before she knew what happened, Kahlan felt an agonizing pain on her right inner thigh. She screamed in pain and looked down to see a horrifying snake latched on her flesh.
Her sharp instincts lead her hand to the scabbard in her boot, in order to retrieve the dagger resting there. But when she was just about to pull out the blade, another scream sounded, more like a high pitched hum, and she felt the snake's teeth sink deeper for a brief moment, before the beast went slack.
Kahlan was sprawled on the leaf-covered ground. She lifted her gaze to see Cara grab the snake's head with one hand, the other still holding her agiel firmly. The Mord'Sith hurriedly tossed the reptile aside and put pressure on Kahlan's thigh, above the wound.
The Mother Confessor was still in shock from the intense pain, but she recovered to some extent after meeting Cara's determined green eyes. "The snake was poisonous, I have to suck the venom from your body before it spreads." The blonde was looking at her with an inquisitive expression, as if she was asking her permission to do something.
At the lack of response from the Confessor, Cara gave an exasperated sigh and lowered herself onto Kahlan's leg. Seeing this, Kahlan came out of her stupor. "What are you doing?" she said, her voice coming out in a somewhat shameful yelp, putting a hand to the blonde's shoulder to halt her advances.
"I'm saving your life, or at least I'm trying," the Mord'Sith said hastily. "Kahlan," she continued in a more moderate tone but looking straight in the Confessor's eyes to convey the importance of her words, "I know you're probably a little uncomfortable with the situation, because I'm about to place my mouth on that gash and I'll suck, hard, in order to pull the snake poison out of your blood stream. The thing is, I don't care if you're uncomfortable because my first priority is to save your life," Cara matter-of-factly informed the Confessor. Seeing the understanding appear on Kahlan's face, she continued in a brisk voice, "So, if you would be so kind as to spread your legs a little to make room for me to work, I'll start." She finished by* pursing her lips together and tilting her head, her eyes boring into Kahlan's with an unwavering stare, as if to say Got it?
Kahlan just nodded her head and made room for the blonde between her legs. Cara shielded her agiel and helped Kahlan to roll her right leg outside to facilitate her access to the injury. While she knelt between the Mother Confessor's legs, she looked one more time to the brunette's blue eyes, to make sure she was okay, and rested her elbows on the hard ground while her hands went to Kahlan's smooth thigh for support. She studied the cuts and then carefully surrounded the wound with her full pink lips and sucked the venom into her mouth with every bit of strength she had.
Kahlan felt a jolt that had nothing to do with pain, the moment Cara's lips touched her. When she felt the blonde's hot mouth on her sensitive skin, a foreign warmth traveled directly to her center and she felt herself shudder at the same time as her chest tightened. Kahlan opened her lips to let a gasp escape. Reflexively, she put her right hand on the nape of Cara's neck and squeezed a little. Kahlan was aware of the pain caused by Cara's actions, but somehow that went to the back of her mind.
The image of Cara with one hand beneath her thigh, holding it, and the other hand resting above the wound, was enticing to Kahlan in a way she didn't understand. Her haze was broken by Cara. The Mord'Sith raised her head and spat the venom on the ground quickly, avoiding contact with it for any longer than necessary. Her green eyes were somewhat unfocused when she glanced at Kahlan, and her voice came out more shaky than she expected when she said, "Hang on, I have to repeat it to make sure it's all out."
"Okay," Kahlan responded with a trembling but trusting voice.
Cara replicated her previous actions and once again brought her mouth to the pale thigh of the Mother Confessor, drawing out what was left of the poison and spitting the toxic liquid on the ground.
Cara swept the smear of blood that lingered on her lips with the back of her red-gloved right hand. She didn't let go of the hold she had on Kahlan's leg as she addressed the Confessor, "I'm pretty sure there's nothing left of it, but Zedd should take a look and heal the cuts." Her voice was a little steadier now, but barely. The Mord'Sith was avoiding Kahlan's eyes, but she squeezed her traveling companion's leg to reassure her that she would be fine.
Kahlan opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Richard emerging suddenly from between the trees, looking frantically around. When he'd heard the scream he had immediately recognized it as belonging to Kahlan, and with just one glance at Zedd he had taken off in the sound's direction. The wizard had chosen to stay behind and look out for any sign of trouble. "Go on my boy, my bones don't allow me to go gallivanting through the woods," he'd said to himself, watching Richard vanish in the shadows.
"Kahlan! Are you ok? What happened?" he asked anxiously, looking from Kahlan, to Cara, to the wound on Kahlan's leg.
Before Kahlan could respond Richard heard Cara's distressed voice. "A damn snake… I didn't see it earlier…" she said between her teeth, staring intensely at Kahlan's twin cuts next to her hand.
"What happened to the snake?" The Seeker demanded.
"I killed it with my agiel obviously," Cara said fiercely as if any other option was impossible. "I tossed it there," she added with a nod of her head in the lifeless animal's direction.
Richard crossed the distance to the snake and examined it. "It's poisonous. We need to suck the poison from the wound," he said, retreating back to the two women's side. "Zedd is back at the camp, he should be able to heal the cuts after," he said resolutely.
"Cara already took care of it," Kahlan finally spoke. "She sucked the poison out; it's just a cut now," the Confessor said, smiling at Cara. She noticed the concerned look that was still shadowing Cara's eyes and attempted to sound cheerful as she said, "I'll be fine. Just one more battle scar." Cara was not as amused as Kahlan had anticipated.
"A scar that could have been avoided," Cara snapped heatedly. "Didn't you see the snake Kahlan?" she asked with her brow furrowed.
"I was distracted, and think about it… it was an opportunity for you to save my life and boast about it later," she joked, trying to ease the situation. Cara was really bothered by the whole thing and that in some way warmed Kahlan, made her see that the Mord'Sith cared for her, or else she wouldn't be so mad.
"You're doing that a lot lately," Cara stated thoughtfully while she bit her inner cheek, completely ignoring Kahlan's teasing comments.
Richard remained silent during this trade of words, he could see Cara was worried and, similarly to Kahlan, tried to assure the Mord'Sith that she did everything she could. "It's easy to miss a snake, they're really quiet. But you did the right thing Cara, taking the poison out. Now all that's left to do is bandage it and let Zedd do his magic." He grinned and nodded confidently at the two women. After that he ripped a shred of his shirt and wrapped it around the cut on Kahlan's leg with utmost care.
The Seeker helped Kahlan get up, putting one arm around her waist to steady her and help her back to camp. Cara turned around from them and went to retrieve the rabbit she killed. She followed the pair closely behind, looking out for anymore of the nasty animals that would dare to cross her path.
When they arrived at camp they found Zedd with a worried look on his face. The wizard took notice of the state of Kahlan's leg and immediately went about repairing it while hearing Richard tell about what had happened. Cara was standing nearby, watching Zedd's work intently.
The pot was already on the fire, courtesy of Zedd, and after taking care of Kahlan's wound he picked up the rabbit to continue cooking.
Kahlan joined the wizard and helped him with the food, while Richard and Cara looked at the map and discussed routes. Each of them sat by the fire to enjoy the food once it was ready. They mostly ate in silence, with Richard sharing some trivial thing here and there. But when they were finished Kahlan noticed that Zedd was unusually quiet. Not that the wizard talked much when food was present, but he had an odd look on his face.
"Is something wrong Zedd?" Kahlan eventually asked the wizard. "You look concerned about something."
Zedd sighed and looked over her shoulder at the abundant tree line. "Something magical happened nearby, maybe a day ago." He looked back at three interested pairs of eyes.
"Is it bad?" Kahlan prompted.
"I don't know my child, I don't know." He shook his head from side to side with a somber look on his aged features.
"But was it some kind of spell you recognize?" Richard insisted, looking apprehensively around and then back to his grandfather.
"Not anything specific, I can only sense that it was powerful magic. I don't detect any trace of the spell caster so maybe the magic came from an amulet or something of the sorts." He shared his hypothesis with the others. "Or maybe the spell caster knows how to cover their tracks," he considered.
"Well, someone clumsy was over here." Cara brought the others' attention to a spot a little over the tree line. "The grass here is all trampled and there are a lot of twigs broken. Looks like our mysterious wizard went that way." She pointed in the direction of the broken branches.
"Whoever it is, is tall… the forest here is thick. Notice the height of the broken branches - it's a foot higher than my head," Richard said, standing next to the first tree that had been damaged by the person who'd passed by it.
"There are more footprints over there," Cara told Richard, pointing behind them. The other three examined the trail Cara discovered.
"Looks like the person stopped here," Kahlan concluded after noticing the trampled area between the two trails of footprints.
The four of them analyzed the surroundings and Richard summarized, "Someone came through there," he said pointing in the direction of the footprints found by Cara, "Then something happened here. Maybe this is where they stopped to do the spell. And then they took off in the opposite direction." He finished his assessment with a furrowed brow.
"This open area is where the magic is more significantly present," Zedd said, with his hands stretched out trying to read the residual magic energy.
Cara put a hand on her canted hip and gestured with the other, saying offhandedly, "So what? A wizard came in here, cast some magic, got burned, rolled in the dirt to put out the fire and ran away?"
Kahlan snickered at this.
Richard sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't know exactly what happened, but it looks like there was more than one. There are a lot of footprints," he said thoughtfully. "Different sizes too," he said, pointing to the first trail. "And here they're all over. I can distinguish them," he stated, assessing the open area. "Then they're mixed together. Looks like they were running one behind the other," he finished, raising his head to look at his companions.
"Well it seems they are headed in the same direction we are," Kahlan pointed out, observing the path of the trail left by the mysterious people.
"Maybe they are headed to the next town, it's just a few leagues from here. If we leave by first light we can be there by midday," Richard informed them.
"All the better, we'll be in town in time for lunch," Zedd stated with a delighted smile, already imagining the culinary specialties the inn would serve.
"Of course wizard, first things first," the Mord'Sith said mockingly, looking sideways at Zedd while she passed him on her way to camp.
"I knew you would come to understand things from my point of view some day, Cara," Zedd said smiling, fully aware of Cara's jab but opting to retaliate with Cara's own weapon… sarcasm.
Cara stopped to look back at the wizard's grinning face. She raised one eyebrow and sucked in her cheeks letting a tiny piece of amusement show. "I'll take first watch," she said, rotating on her heels. The others followed the Mord'Sith, away from the tree line.
"You can play more tomorrow children, let's have some rest now," Kahlan said, laughing at both of them. Zedd chuckled good- naturedly and agreed with the Mother Confessor's suggestion.
The Mord'Sith turned and said, "What do you mean ch-"
"By children I mean stop bickering like them and go to sleep," Kahlan said smugly, having guessed what Cara was going to ask. It's a rare occasion, but in these things she's so predictable, Kahlan thought, smiling contentedly to herself.
"I have first watch, remember?" Cara declared triumphantly, lifting her chin proudly. "You sleep," she said, pointing one finger in Kahlan's direction for good measure, then turning around and taking her post in a state of alert that would make it next to impossible for someone to pass by her.
"Creator forbid she didn't have the last word," Kahlan whispered, making Richard snort amusedly.
"How is your leg? Do you feel better?" Richard asked her with a gaze filled with concern, fuelled by love.
Kahlan looked into his warm brown eyes and her joyful mood crashed down when she remembered the things she was contemplating earlier. She couldn't return that look to him anymore; not as passionately as she used to.
"Kahlan, are you okay?" the Seeker inquired after noticing the spaced-out look on Kahlan's face. "You must be exhausted. You should rest," he said, grabbing her hand and caressing her knuckles in a comforting manner.
"No, I'm fine. You just reminded me that I forgot to thank Cara for helping me." She smiled affectionately* at Richard and put a hand on his shoulder before she turned and walked to Cara, extracting her hand from his in the process.
Richard looked suspiciously at Kahlan's back. Something was bothering the young Mother Confessor, and he wouldn't rest until he found out what it was. He was the Seeker of Truth, after all.
Cara was standing tall in front of the moonlight-illuminated forest. She sensed approaching steps, and taking into account their lightness, it was definitely Kahlan. The Mother Confessor came to a stop right behind her, waiting for the blonde to turn around and acknowledge her.
"You're distracting me from my duties Confessor," she said without flinching, left hand on her agiel, never taking her keen eyes off of the almost total darkness ahead.
"Thank you," Kahlan said simply but earnestly.
"For what?" Cara asked, keeping her face expressionless.
"Saving my life…" Kahlan softly said. "…Again," she added with a smile.
"You don't have to thank me Mother Confessor, you didn't ask for anything," the Mord'Sith stated, swallowing the sudden small lump that made itself present in her throat.
This time Kahlan was having none of it and she decided to confront the stubborn woman. "You didn't leave me time to do it, you were by my side a second after I felt the snake bite," Kahlan said, proving with the Mord'Sith's own actions that the blonde deserved her thanks, and that those actions showed that Cara cared more about Kahlan than she admitted to.
When Cara remained stoic, Kahlan did something she had never done before, but which, as she was about to do it, seemed almost natural. Impulsively, she put her right hand on Cara's left shoulder and leaned in, kissing the blonde's cheek tenderly. Kahlan let her very lightly parted lips rest an extra second on Cara's satin-like cheek. It was a simple kiss, but at the same time it conveyed the great appreciation Kahlan had for Cara. It conveyed a strange kind of intimacy and understanding she'd never shared with anyone else in her life.
To her surprise, though Cara tensed up, she didn't pull away. She didn't acknowledge her, either - but she didn't jump back.
Kahlan licked her lips, confused with what she'd felt when her lips touched Cara's face. She let the hand resting on Cara's shoulder glide back down till she squeezed her forearm, noticing that Cara was grabbing her agiel more securely. "Good night, Cara," she whispered. For some reason it didn't feel right to raise her voice above a whisper. She turned around and left in the fire's direction, to the place Richard had already unfolded her bedroll.
After she was sure that the brunette couldn't hear it, Cara let out the breath she was holding and whispered quietly, "Sleep well, Kahlan."